This invention relates to a pancake motor pump and especially to a hermetically sealed, magnetic-thrust-balanced, fluid pump system.
For spacecraft propulsion requiring pumps for propellant pressurization the preferred method is the electric motor pump drive operating at high speed requiring no purge gas and operating safely without seals. The commonly used method utilizes a hot gas tubine powering the propellant pump. High speed compact motors in the multiple horsepower range, however, are not readily available, even in the specialized electric motor industry. The replacement of the high temperature gas turbine to drive the propellant pump with a new type of high speed electric motor eliminates the following:
Problems related to high temperature and high structural stress.
Thermal heat soakback into the propellant pumps.
Separation of hot turbine gas and pump propellant fluid.
Helium purge gas.
Turbine gas generator and related hardware.